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	<title>SmartRemarks &#187; Congress</title>
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	<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com</link>
	<description>Thoughts that seemed like a good idea at the time</description>
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		<title>It&#8217;s like Congress is being tested</title>
		<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2010/05/its-like-congress-is-being-tested/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2010/05/its-like-congress-is-being-tested/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 May 2010 16:22:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris J. Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Constitution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[immigration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wall Street]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.smartmemes.com/?p=2095</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just a quick observation prompted by events in recent weeks. These events are unrelated, yet they form a pattern. Together, they put Washington on the hot seat and shine a spotlight on its (questionable) ability to act in the public interest.
Specifically, if&#8230;
&#8230;despite an offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico so devastating that it&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2010/05/its-like-congress-is-being-tested/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Health care is making me sick</title>
		<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2010/03/health-care-is-making-me-sick/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2010/03/health-care-is-making-me-sick/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:44:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris J. Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alan Grayson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bart Stupak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blue Dogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democrats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dick Durbin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Max Baucus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pelosi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[progressives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rahm Emanuel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.smartmemes.com/?p=1814</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As the health care reform debate enters what appears to be the home stretch (albeit not for the first time), what Washington is offering us (the citizenry) boils down to a choice between bad and worse. The legislation now under consideration, both the Senate bill and the slight variation on same presented as &#8220;Obama&#8217;s bill,&#8221; [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2010/03/health-care-is-making-me-sick/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Health care and disinformation</title>
		<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/12/health-care-and-disinformation/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/12/health-care-and-disinformation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:03:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris J. Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conservatism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Constitution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-mail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Connelly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supreme Court]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.smartmemes.com/?p=1806</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday&#8217;s inbox contained a political e-mail message forwarded by my girlfriend&#8217;s parents. They&#8217;re not especially political people; their sensibilities (to the extent they&#8217;ll even discuss them) tend toward a somewhat mushy moderate conservatism, the kind of folks who instinctively vote Republican, even though the party&#8217;s center of gravity has moved far away from them. Indeed, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/12/health-care-and-disinformation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Things that make your jaw drop</title>
		<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/10/things-that-make-your-jaw-drop/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/10/things-that-make-your-jaw-drop/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:25:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris J. Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al Franken]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Vitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dick Cheney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equal marriage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Halliburton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Keith Bardwell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[racism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[southern states]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.smartmemes.com/?p=1788</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been preoccupied with other affairs lately, and haven&#8217;t been much inclined to write blog entries, as the date stamp will attest. However, sometimes events crop up in ways that just demand to be shared and commented upon.
Two news stories this week converged (at least in my mind) to compel the question:  just how do [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/10/things-that-make-your-jaw-drop/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama&#8217;s speech and the &#8220;reset button&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/09/obamas-speech-and-the-reset-button/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/09/obamas-speech-and-the-reset-button/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:13:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris J. Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blue Dogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democrats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[progressives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rahm Emanuel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.smartmemes.com/?p=1675</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So, where did I leave off?
&#8230;That&#8217;s right, there was a speech Wednesday night. A pretty significant one, in fact, for reasons I described at some length.
What of it, then?
I can&#8217;t deny that it was a very, very good speech. Rhetorically powerful. And yet, what it says about the direction of health care policy, and thus [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/09/obamas-speech-and-the-reset-button/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Some thoughts on health care and hypocrisy</title>
		<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/08/some-thoughts-on-health-care-and-hypocrisy/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/08/some-thoughts-on-health-care-and-hypocrisy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:53:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris J. Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blue Dogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democrats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[House of Representatives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paul Krugman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rahm Emanuel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.smartmemes.com/?p=1519</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One could go on at literally exhaustive length about the ins and outs of the current &#8220;health care debate&#8221; in Washington, but I&#8217;ll try to avoid that. The media and the blogosphere have provided a constant play-by-play in terms of both substantive policy and, even more, political strategy. (Jonathan Chait at TNR has been particularly [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/08/some-thoughts-on-health-care-and-hypocrisy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Summing up the critique of Obama</title>
		<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/07/summing-up-the-critique-of-obama/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/07/summing-up-the-critique-of-obama/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:14:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris J. Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[primaries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[progressives]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.smartmemes.com/?p=1514</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The New Republic isn&#8217;t the place to look for progressive opinion these days (especially on matter of foreign policy), but every once in a while it does offer a reminder of why it used to be considered a liberal magazine. Most recently, TNR&#8217;s Ed Kilgore produced quite possibly the best and most succinct summary to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/07/summing-up-the-critique-of-obama/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Torture and death squads and Cheney, oh my&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/07/torture-and-death-squads-and-cheney-oh-my/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/07/torture-and-death-squads-and-cheney-oh-my/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:09:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris J. Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Constitution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[death squads]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dick Cheney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DOJ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eric Holder]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[international]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Yoo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[torture]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.smartmemes.com/?p=1458</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What have we learned this week, boys and girls? We&#8217;ve learned that every time we think we know the worst about Dick Cheney, every time we think we understand the fetid depths of the clandestine government that sick fuck and his neocon cabal were running out of the Bush White House, every time we fool [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/07/torture-and-death-squads-and-cheney-oh-my/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The politics of paranoia and paralogia</title>
		<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/05/the-politics-of-paranoia-and-paralogia/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/05/the-politics-of-paranoia-and-paralogia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 May 2009 02:44:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris J. Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conservatism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Constitution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dick Cheney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guantanamo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[international]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[journalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[libertarianism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[torture]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.smartmemes.com/?p=1336</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Where did we leave off? 
I was writing about the difficulty of finding something meaningful to say in the wake of all the full-time, professional political bloggers out there. Too often I feel like I&#8217;m just offering a synthesis of what others have said, rather than any new insight.
Perhaps I&#8217;m holding myself to an arbitrarily high [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/05/the-politics-of-paranoia-and-paralogia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Some things about President Obama&#8217;s proposed budget</title>
		<link>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/03/some-things-about-president-obamas-proposed-budget/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/03/some-things-about-president-obamas-proposed-budget/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:38:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris J. Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[federal budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[taxes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.smartmemes.com/?p=1089</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just going from the press coverage, of course. I haven&#8217;t read the actual FY 2010 federal budget the administration presented to Congress. (Have you ever tried to read a federal budget? Even in outline form, they&#8217;re large. And arcane. The legislators themselves don&#8217;t usually bother. They have staff lobbyists for that sort of thing&#8230;)
Anyway, I&#8217;m [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.smartmemes.com/2009/03/some-things-about-president-obamas-proposed-budget/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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